Hood River Real Estate and Columbia Gorge Real Estate

Well, we hit soft spot…..very slow for the last few weeks! I’m sensing a shift in things, back to a pre 1998 posture. In 1998, August was the busy month in town, not July. It appears that we may be shifting back in that direction this year. We have many indicators that August will be full, while I can honestly say that July was a write off……

The Gorge Games were a bust. The Conventional Wisdom is that more people left town to avoid the Gorge Games than actually showed up. A far cry from the 1200 athletes projected. They did have some cool events, but those seemed to be the aspirational events, and I’m not certain you can make money on an event that way.

I would have to say that I’m unsure about the Fall, although I’m confident in the long term for Hood River. Bouncy times ahead, though…..tougher than I had hoped, but about what I had expected………….

If you are in the market (and there are alot of you) please know that you can wait for the prices to drop more, but it’s more about the motivations of the Seller than anytthing else. Certainly it’s a Buyer’s market, but let’s all not overplay our hands……

Now if we could only find a loan………

The View from here? Choppy, but improving. No, wait, not improving, I’m just getting more used to the choppiness…………..

See you next month..

Yahoo!

If you haven’t seen it yet, head on over to Copperwest.com to take a look at our new website. It’s still a work in progress, but I’d say it qualifies as an early Hood River Real Estate web 2.0 product……….

Much of the site is modular, so we will be swapping stuff out over the next year. It allows you to do a cool map search, save properties that you want to track, review broker comments on properties, and then connect with our brokers in a private workspace where you can catalog transaction files, estimate your mortgage, and keep tabs on your transaction.

Soon, we’ll be adding Google’s streetview to the functionality, as well as satellite view. There really wont be much more you’ll need!

Hope you like it……..

Fannie and Freddie……..Thanks for nothing. If what I’m hearing/reading is true, the cost of borrowing and a MAJOR part of the lending market is about to implode.

The Cost of borrowing money is……..about to get a bit tighter……Oh who am I kidding. ALOT tighter. How is it possible that people can be responsible borrowers and lenders, and then STILL get stuck with the bill in a public bailout?

Pressure on housing prices? Just went decidedly negative with that news today. In a world of financial toxic waste, this is a top three kind of hit. Let’s just hope they keep it together…………